Snake Eyes
by Koury Coving
Summary: Two master assassins, one crimson-eyed Old Blood. Their mission: take him down with whatever means necessary. Piece of cake, right? Wrong. There is only one thing certain with this assignment: when it is over, nothing will be the same.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Strobe lights flashed violent shades of green and blue and the stench of alcohol was rich in the air. The throngs of people squished together on the small dance floor were practically soaked in their own sweat as their bodies twisted and weaved as one gigantic beast to the pounding of the bass. There wasn't a single still particle of dust in the entire room, nor was there anyone who suspected anything of the two gorgeous young women who walked inside the rave with blank expressions.

They looked almost exactly alike; their hair was pinned up with chopsticks into the same half-bun and their dresses were cut in the same style: spaghetti straps and skin-tight material that stopped in the middle of the upper part of their thighs. Their hair was black and their pale skin matched each other's perfectly. One wore a dark shade of purple that harmonized with her piercing eyes while the other wore a bright green that reflected the fire that danced in her intense stare.

Their actions were almost synchronized as they moved through the sea of drunk Red Bloods and drooling Black Bloods. This was their territory; their forte. No one suspected them but no one approached them like they would another partygoer. They practically owned the place though they had never set foot in that particular club's walls. Their eyes scrutinized every single face they saw in search for their target: Rafael von Connor.

He was a Black Blood with a vicious history of attacking and killing Red Bloods without any cause other than his own pleasure. He murdered hundreds of innocent women that he picked up off the streets or in unlawful clubs. It was vampires like him that the two sisters hunted down to be put in their place.

_Jun,_ the one in green alerted her twin as she caught sight of a tall, blonde-haired Black Blood. No one heard the comment; it passed without a sound between only them.

Jun turned her purple eyes to her sister and then followed her gaze to the man who seemed to be staring at every single woman that moved within his line of sight. Wordlessly, the two changed direction and walked straight toward the vampire. Their eyes immediately brightened when they got close and they began to dance as though they were simply there to enjoy the party.

By the time they had moved into Rafael's vicinity they could feel his eyes bore into their backs with curiosity and lust. Neither of the girls were strangers to seducing men; in fact they were professionals at it. It was one of the best ways to leave their targets unsuspecting and stupefied.

In unison they turned and pretended to catch sight of the vampire for the first time. Their full, red lips widened into mirrored smiles as they moved toward him and began giving him his own special dance. He reached out and grabbed the woman in green around her waist with a smile.

"What might your name be, Love?" he asked in a low voice that was loud enough to be heard over the music.

"Rin," she replied as she placed her hands on his shoulders. "And you?"

"Rafael," he informed with a wide smile. Jun watched as her sister easily captivated their target and made the move to retreat into a dark corner somewhere; she wouldn't be needed. But, Rafael's chocolate gaze met hers and she stayed in her place. Rin followed the Black Blood's line of vision and she smiled.

She leaned forward and whispered into his ear, "Are you interested in a package? Because we offer those."

Rafael chuckled darkly and offered his right hand to the woman dressed in purple. Jun stepped forward and joined the two in a close-quarters dance.

"And who is this?" Rafael asked her.

"Jun," she said almost breathlessly and took triumph in how a spark seemed to flash in the Black Blood's eyes from her tone.

"A beautiful name," he complimented and glanced at Rin. "Both of you."

They smiled and in unison replied with a "Thanks" and a seducing hip roll.

Rafael's senses were overwhelmed by the two Red Blood's scents as he had never experienced before and more than once during the dance his eyes locked onto the skin of their necks for dangerously long moments at a time. He had enough control to keep his fangs in their place, though.

"Tell me," he said after the rapid paced music switched to something a little more slow, but still lively enough to excite. "What are two lovely young ladies doing in a crowd such as this?"

"Searching," Rin answered. She was always the one quick for words. "For exhilaration. This is one of the few clubs in the Special Zone where both vampires and humans can mingle with no strings attached."

Rafael smiled. "And I take it you enjoy tempting the control of the vampires around you?"

"We live off of temptation," Jun replied this time. Rafael's eyes narrowed and his hands subtly caressed the small of the women's backs.

"Is it only temptation that you thrive in?" he questioned. "Or something a little more… invigorating?"

The twin's hands slid down to Rafael's chest as Rin whispered into his ear, "Temptation is only the beginning."

This graced her with gentle but hungry lips that pressed against her chin and traveled all the way down to her collar bone. On the inside, she spat with disgust and wanted so badly to just stab him through right there, but the point of getting close was so that they didn't have to make a scene. So, she let out a soft, believable moan.

"You're bold, big man," Rin breathed and met his gaze with her own green eyes. "And you seem to want some fun."

"Could you possibly get a room?" Jun asked and pressed her body close to his.

Rafael smirked. "I come prepared," he whispered into the purple-eyed woman's hair and let his tongue travel slowly across the contour of her ear. She responded with an exited groan and the twins smiled as delight flickered in the Black Blood's eyes; he had _no _idea what was coming for him.

Rafael was practically drooling as he led them to the back of the crowded room and to a metal staircase guarded by two vampires dressed in black suits and sunglasses. When the guards recognized the famous vampire they stepped aside and let him lead Rin and Jun up the black metal stairs.

The room he took them to was large and probably labeled as a suite; it had a queen sized bed and the furniture and walls bore matching shades of dull green and gray. Rin couldn't help but realize how poorly designed it was and had the need to voice her observation to her twin over their telepathic connection.

_It's no wonder this place attracts all the junkies, _she growled. _They could at least add a little more color to these boring walls; I might just puke._

Jun answered with a barely visible smile. Her sister was always so criticizing of practically anything; it wasn't just a habit but a routine that she couldn't stop. This was one of the reasons many of the people they knew kept their distance from her.

Rafael strutted to the bed that leaned against the left wall and sat down with a smile and expecting eyes. Rin stepped forward first and kicked off her high-heels to reveal green nail polish that matched her whole outfit. They way she walked with her hips over-dramatically rolling from side to side captured the Black Blood's gaze. She straddled Rafael's legs and sat down slowly just to tantalize him.

Once there his hands grasped her waist and pulled her close, but before he did anything Jun began to move toward him. He watched as she, too, removed her high heels to expose purple nail polish. Rafael's eyes glinted as he realized the two women not only looked the same but every movement of theirs seemed to be the spitting image of one another's. It drove him crazy.

Jun circled to the other side of the bed and crawled up behind Rafael with a smirk that only Rin could see. At first, Rafael tensed, but when Jun began massaging his back and shoulders he relaxed completely.

"You two can't be just friends," he pointed out. Rin silently thanked him for being such a blabber mouth; she didn't want to let his filthy chops touch one more part of her body.

"Twins," Jun said from behind and Rin nodded with a smile.

"That makes sense," Rafael replied with a twinkle in his eye. Rin decided it was time to end this disgusting little game and she shifted her weight forward on the vampire's lap. The way that she began moving her hips against him completely captured his attention. He leaned forward with his fangs revealed and didn't notice as the woman in purple behind him removed one of the chopsticks from her hair. He didn't notice, that is, until the thing was pointed at his neck and Rin's seductive smile became a triumphant smirk.

"Really," she said. "You are all too easy."

Before Rafael could say a word, Jun plunged the silver stick into his neck and caused his blood to boil and steam as it poured out of the wound.

"Y-you _bitches_!" was the only thing he could manage to say. Rin and Jun smiled in unison as they returned their feet to the ground and moved to grab their high heels from the floor.

"You're not the first and you certainly aren't going to be the last to say that," Rin said with a smirk over her shoulder. Despite being mortally wounded, the idiot vampire rose to his feet and lunged at the green-eyed woman with rage. He removed the silver that was plunged into his throat and used it as a dagger to force into Rin's heart, but he wasn't fast enough.

She blocked his hand and pulled out one of her own chopsticks to drive a second hole into his neck. He screamed in pain and rage but collapsed to the floor and writhed as the silver slowly ate away at his blood. He convulsed twice before he finally turned to dust in front of the twins.

"Too easy," Rin sighed and leaned down to pick up both of the chopsticks. They were silver; she certainly wasn't going to just leave them there. Jun smiled and opened her mouth to reply but there was suddenly a loud bang as the door to the room was kicked down to reveal two seething Black Bloods who no doubt were in cahoots with Rafael.

"Shit," Rin cursed and tossed one of the chopsticks to her sister. "I hate it when these fools are too paranoid for their own good."

Jun smirked at her sister's attitude and at the same time they removed the other chopstick that held their hair up and held one in each hand like daggers. Against these guys they were much better than daggers.

The Black Bloods roared and each leapt for a different target. Rin ducked under a powerful punch and thrust her hand upward to drive the chopstick under the vampire's ribs but he caught her hand and dug his nails into her wrist. She winced but did her best to ignore the pain and stabbed him in the side with the other chopstick. This caused him to howl in agony and let go of her hand. As soon as her hand was free she shot it forward to dig the chopstick into his throat to turn him to dust.

Jun was having a harder time; the vampire she was against was way more experienced than Rin's. She had to dodge his quick attacks in such rapid succession that she wasn't able to land a solid blow. She was definitely getting him scraped up just as much as she was; however, he aimed a hard punch to her face and caused her to stumble backwards into the wall behind her. Her eyes widened as he leapt forward to deal a death blow, but a green-toed foot slammed into his side and knocked him several feet to the side.

The vampire bared his fangs at the two women; there was no _way _that they were Red Bloods, but they didn't smell like Black Bloods. It didn't particularly matter to him, though. His boss was already dead and all he wanted was to live another day so he held his hands up in defeat.

This caused Jun to smile and Rin to literally burst into laughter.

"You really are stupid beasts, aren't you?" the green-eyed woman asked when she was able to catch her breath. "You've seen our faces; you aren't getting out of here alive."

His eyes widened and he bared his fangs in surprise; what were those women? Their ruthlessness toward Black Bloods should very well mean that they were Red Bloods, but their damn speed and strength were anything but human. Before he could do or say anything to stop the two assassin's wrath, he had two chopsticks plunged into his neck from either side and he turned to dust.

Rin and Jun stepped back with triumphant smiles but those soon faded as they heard footsteps sprinting up the metal stairs down the hall. They reacted quickly and one closed the door as the other moved a heavy cabinet to block anyone from further entry. When the cabinet was in place Jun swept over the room with her eyes and jogged to the curtains on the far wall with chopsticks and high heels in hand.

She threw aside the curtains and lifted the window just as Rin caught up to her. The two eyed the two story drop with wariness.

"You're the oldest," Rin said. "Protect your little sister."

Jun rolled her eyes at her twin but they didn't have time to argue; there were already vampires banging on the doors to the rooms next to them. Thank goodness they didn't know which room Rafael was in or she and Rin would be dead meat.

Without hesitation, Jun swung her legs over the window sill and landed silently on the rough stone below. Though she and her sister were stronger than an average Red Blood, they weren't quite as versatile as Black Bloods. Rin followed merely seconds after her sister and together they sprinted to the black Mituoka Orochi they had parked a few blocks down.

Once there, Jun dived into the driver's seat and slammed on the gas just as Rin closed the door to the passenger's side. Neither of them celebrated until they were a good fifteen minutes away from the club and sure that no one had followed them. Rin was the first to break into a large smile.

"I told you so," she bragged. Jun glanced over at her with a blank expression.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," she droned. Rin looked at her with a cocked eyebrow and a smirk.

"I told you that it was going to be as easy as taking the trash out on a Sunday morning and guess what? It was."

Jun sniffed as she made a right turn at a red light. She was always cautious on missions and never too cocky, but her sister was entirely different. It bothered her often, but this time she had to admit that it was okay for her twin to be a little over-confident because, yes, it WAS easy to get in and out of that rave without being caught.

"Fine," she gave in and Rin pumped both of her fists in the air.

"Woohoo! Ice cream's on you tonight!" Rin cheered. Jun couldn't help but smile at her sister's childish antics. Every time they went on a mission she placed some sort of bet that had one or the other paying out some kind of cash. Not that it mattered; they shared their money. It was simply a nice sentiment.

"First you have to call the Boss," Jun reminded her. Rin's smile faded and turned into a pout.

"Why do I have to be the one to do it?" she asked even though she knew the answer.

"I'm driving," Jun said with a huff. Rin stuck her tongue out at her sister but obliged and pulled her cell out of the glove box in front of her. She dialed their boss's number reluctantly and waited the first two rings before the call was picked up.

"_I suspect your mission went well?" _the deep voice on the other end of the line asked immediately.

"Of course it did, Aguri," Rin scoffed. "What a silly question."

There was a chuckle on the other side of the line that sent shivers down both of the women's backs. They weren't scared of many things, but Aguri was the exception to almost all of the rules the two of them had subconsciously set to their lives and he frightened the living daylights out of both of them.

"_I'm glad you're safe," _Aguri said. _"Come back to base; I have another mission for you."_

Rin frowned. "Already? What's so important that we don't get to rest before we're reassigned?"

"_I can't answer that over the line, I'm afraid. You know the chances of getting the phone bugged are constantly growing, no? Meet me in my office and I'll tell you what you need to know. Ta-ta for now!"_

Rin's scowl remained even as she closed the phone after her boss's cheery goodbye. He always seemed so bipolar. He went from being completely serious to absolutely giddy more times than she could count, but that wasn't what bothered her.

"What is it?" Jun asked. She sensed her twin's irritation as though it were her own.

"We have another mission already," Rin growled. "Aguri was probably planning to give it to us before we even made it to the damn club. We probably wouldn't constantly be having this problem if we were free-lance again, you know."

"Yes, but then we would have problems with finding enough money to keep ourselves alive," Jun scoffed. "Besides, the influence Boss has can be rather helpful in some situations."

"Yeah, yeah," Rin grumbled. "That doesn't mean that I have to like it, though."

Jun smiled as she pulled into a driveway that led to one of the nicest mansions of its size in the city. It wasn't large per say, but it wasn't tiny either. Black, iron gates blocked the way and a metal box poked out of the ground on the driver's side of the road. Jun pulled up to it with her window rolled down and pushed the large red button that was the only thing other than a speaker on its smooth surface.

"_State your business," _a bored sounding voice came through the speaker. Or maybe the voice was tired; it was some time in the early morning, after all.

"Hey, Ralph," Jun greeted cheerfully.

"_Ah, Jun," _the voice instantly came to life. _"Welcome back, I'll buzz you in."_

"Thanks, Ralph," Jun responded politely before she sat back and rolled up her window. It was only a moment before the gates slowly slid open. Jun drove a little more slowly on this road than she did in the open city which made it easy to take in the beautiful scenery surrounding the mansion.

The road was lined with pristinely cut bushes and a gorgeous garden spread around the house in which countless types of flowers and trees overflowed. The mansion itself was a traditional Japanese lay out. Its roof was made of black shale and its walls were white with engraved wood carvings dancing about them playfully. Red posts held the house up and accented the red rose bushes that were in front of the door very nicely.

The road eventually came to a round about with a large marble fountain resting in the middle. The fountain was probably the most detailed and beautiful of all of the items to be found on the property. Eleven of the Zodiac animals made up the bottom pillar and the top was a mighty dragon that spewed a steady stream of water instead of a burning fire. Both Rin and Jun had found that they could stare at the fountain all day and never get bored.

Jun pulled the car up to the front of the house and parked it but left everything on; a valet was standing there to meet them and would no doubt move the car out of the way of any other visitors. It was entirely irrational due to how late it was in the night, but traditions and protocols were to be followed on their boss's property.

The twins got out of the car in sync—they still had their high heels in their hands—and walked up the steps that led to the front door. They were met by a servant who showed them where to place their shoes before she escorted them to their boss's study.

The servant left them outside the door and Rin coughed awkwardly when no sound came from inside the room. They both knew that their boss could both hear and smell them, but he liked to test their patience too much. Jun was fine with it, but Rin was so obviously not.

"Come in," Aguri finally chirped. Rin sighed with relief and slid the paper door open violently. Jun followed her as she walked into the room and then closed the door quietly so as to spare them any of Aguri's wrath. He hated it when they treated the doors too harshly.

The study was large; its walls were covered in nothing but books and the middle of the floor was occupied by an oversized, wooden desk. A man with somewhat messy brown hair sat in a leather chair facing the door and his piercing red gaze was currently absorbed in the contents of a book neither of the twins could place.

"So," Rin said as she stood in front of the desk with her hands on her hips. "Would you care to tell us who exactly it is you need taken down _at this very precise moment_?"

Jun came to stand next to her and a small smile crept on her lips when Aguri simply continued to read his book. He was really only a couple of years older than the twenty-three year olds and that made the way he always treated Rin like a child hilarious beyond all means. Rin hated it, but she couldn't do zilch about it.

"What do you know about the legend of Asura?" Aguri finally asked. Rin blinked as though he were stupid. Actually, it was she who was stupid because she had no idea what he was talking about. Thankfully Jun did, so Rin didn't have to try to come up with some lie to cover herself up.

"It is said that he was a god who gave his blood many years ago to a line of vampires," Jun explained. "That line was given amazing abilities, but has since very nearly died out. Only a few of the line are known to be left. Correct?"

Aguri closed his book and looked up at the purple-eyed woman.

"That is correct," he confirmed. "There is one individual in particular who seems to be content with meddling in my affairs. He is of this blood line and he is the one I want you to kill."

Jun's eyes widened. "But Aguri-"

Aguri held his hand up for silence. "I know that this mission will be incredibly hard for you to complete, but I believe that you two are the only ones who will be able to accomplish the task."

Jun pierced her lips into a white line but nodded in compliance. Rin looked from Aguri to Jun with a raised eyebrow.

"What's so special about this Asura blood line?" she inquired with cluelessness. She really should begin to study up on things like this, but she could always just ask her sister if she needed to know something so she just didn't.

Jun sighed and relayed what she knew in a monotone. "Asura is an ancient god of wrath and fire: his power is unmatchable to anything that can be created on earth. When he gave his blood to the vampires he gave them the power to harness and control fire with their will. If one of the Asura bloodline wanted to, he could burn down a whole village with a single thought."

This caused Rin to pale. "Fire?" she practically squeaked and her eyes shot to Aguri. "You want to send me into a battle with someone who controls _fire?"_

Aguri just nodded and Rin's hotheadedness immediately awakened.

"There is no damn way!" she yelled. "My attacks won't be able to do shit against fire, you know that! You cannot be serious about me trying to go into battle with a damn _pyromaniac_!"

Aguri tilted his head to the side and smirked. "What's the matter, Rin? Too scared for a challenge?"

This stalled whatever words were about to come out of the woman's mouth next. She hated him. She hated him. She hated him. She hated him. She hated him. SHE FREAKING HATED HIM. But what she hated more was her damn pride that didn't let her get away from anything that could potentially put her life in danger if someone challenged her to do it.

"Fine," she grumbled as she looked away and crossed her arms over her chest. Aguri nodded with his smirk still plainly visible on his face, but didn't say what it seemed he wanted to. This was Jun's chance to cut in.

"Who exactly is it that we're going after?" she asked Aguri. There were a few of the Asura bloodline she knew about but only one that set her nerves on edge. She hoped it wasn't him who she and her sister needed to take out.

"Oh, forgive me," Aguri said with a smile. "Your target's name is Zelman Clock."

Both of the twins froze; that was a name they both knew full well. Rin's anger returned and she gave Aguri the best death glare she could muster.

"WHAT?!"

* * *

_So? Good first chapter? I hope so because I stayed up until four in the morning trying to finish it. XD I got the idea and decided that I needed to write it down right away. Just a warning: I already have two other fanfics that I'm writing right now (because I'm stupid and I'm trying to multitask XP) so I might not post too often. Unless, of course, you give me reviews that make me happy enough to ignore my to-do list long enough to write more than one chapter a week. I'm counting on you guys to do it! _

_Well... Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed. ^^  
_

_-KC_


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Aguri scratched his chin awkwardly and gave the twins in front of him a nervous smile.

"I'm sorry," he said innocently, "I thought you would have known as soon as I mentioned Asura; Zelman _is _the last of his bloodline, you know."

Rin's glare sharpened and she was about to say something probably very stupid, but Jun cut in just in time.

"Wait, I thought a few of the Asura bloodline stepped forward recently?"

"Eh, well, yes. And, no…" Aguri leaned forward and folded his hands on his desk and suddenly all innocence was replaced with deadly seriousness. "Strangely, the few who claimed to be from Asura's bloodline were found dead in their own homes along with all of their followers. Being dead isn't so much of the problem, but the fact that they were found as ashes with scorch marks where they were laying was suspicious. In all cases, the scorch marks only hovered around their ashes, so either whoever killed them didn't give them time to attack, or they weren't who they said they were at all."

"Let me guess… Zelman?" Jun predicted. Aguri nodded affirmative.

"I don't understand," Rin interrupted. "If Zelman is going around killing vampires then why is he our target? He's helping us, is he not?"

"That's where the problem is," Aguri said darkly. "He's killed outside the law which is one thing I cannot allow, but he didn't just kill vampires with no name or reputation. In fact, several were informants that I used quite regularly to get the information I needed to send you on your missions."

"I see," Rin murmured and glanced away so that her eyes did not betray her hidden emotion. When was killing ever _inside _the law? Zelman was probably only doing what she and her sister did on a regular basis: eliminating threats that came too close. If they were tried by jury, as was normal, they would probably be condemned with eight life sentences by now, if not then more. Rin bit her lip to keep herself from pointing this out, however, Aguri wasn't blind. He narrowed his eyes and searched her blank expression.

"Any questions?" he asked without taking his eyes off of her. Rin steeled her gaze and looked back at her boss with expert calm learned from going undercover for countless missions. She shook her head and glanced to her left at Jun.

"You?" she inquired. Jun shook her head as well. Aguri was still suspicious, but rather than raise any problems he waved his hand in dismissal.

"Off you go, then," he ordered. Rin's brow furrowed; everything just seemed off with this mission.

"Sir, don't you have any files to give us?" she asked.

Aguri simply smiled maliciously. "Of course, they're waiting at the apartment I rented for you. Oh, and by the way, once you get to the apartment I'm sad to say there is no going back until either he is dead or you are unable to physically finish the mission."

Rin's concealed gaze slowly melted into a lethal death glare as she put the pieces together of what Aguri just told them.

"So what you're saying," she growled, "is that, since you don't allow us to back out of a mission before reading the file, there is no possible way for us to say no unless we are half-dead?"

Aguri paused a moment with a slight frown. "Well, I wouldn't put it quite so harshly, but…" he smiled and rested his chin in his hand, "Pretty much yes."

Rin terribly wanted to rip the cheeky grin off of that man's face. _Very _terribly. Unfortunately, she had the good sense not to try. So she just turned around and marched out of the room without bothering to see if her sister was following. Sometimes, she hated both of them. Like now.

She hated Jun because she was the one who decided it would be a good idea to get an employer, and she was also the one who suggested Aguri. If it weren't for her, Rin was pretty certain they would still be living life carefree with no worries of having to please any higher-ups who forced them into doing something they didn't want to do. She hated Aguri for a different reason entirely. Sure, he was a boss that, well, lived up to the title with his obnoxious, over-controlling attitude, but that wasn't the reason she hated him at that particular moment.

A few years ago on a mission, a horrible accident occurred. So horrible, in fact, that she would begin to have a panic attack if she thought too much on what happened that night. Ever since then her only fear was of fire, and of course, Aguri was sending her to fight a vampire who controlled said substance. She wouldn't hate him so much if he didn't know about her past, but in fact he knew practically everything that happened. Still, he was forcing her to do the mission. Technically, she could just quit and never come back, but her stubborn pride and conscience wouldn't let her do that. She was fairly certain Jun would go on this mission no matter what, and she wasn't going to let her sister go alone.

As she grabbed her shoes from where she had placed them earlier and continued walking outside, she did her best not to conjure up images in her mind of how many ways she could first torture, then kill Aguri. She didn't want to over-react, after all. When she was able to see the roundabout that she and Jun had parked their car for the valet, she froze in her angry march. Instead of the sleek, black sports car that she had chosen herself there was a bulky pick-up truck whose blue paint was sun bleached and peeling. She knew that if missions might take a while they would require some undercover props, but… seriously? The truck looked to be at least forty years old, and it certainly did not fit the city memo.

Regrettably, she couldn't really do much about it. Aguri generally chose the fronts Rin and Jun would put up when they went on undercover missions, so this was probably all they would get. Joy. Rin grudgingly continued forward and hoisted herself into the passenger's seat of the monster. It would probably be better if Jun drove considering her sister's blood wasn't currently simmering and waiting to explode in a fit of road rage. For both of their safety, it would be Jun who would drive to their new living space.

* * *

As soon as Rin was out of hearing range, Jun glared at Aguri and clenched her fists at her side. She didn't know what his plan was, but she was sure that if they went through with this mission something would go wrong. Having that knowledge, she couldn't keep quiet about it, no matter how angry Aguri would be for questioning him.

"Zelman, Aguri? Really?" she asked with well-practiced command over the anger that threatened to enter her voice. A normal person might not be able to hear the note of challenge in her tone, but she wasn't exactly dealing with a person so it was entirely possible that the Black Blood knew exactly what she was feeling, though she didn't openly say it. Aguri's smile didn't fade.

"Yes, really. I'm not so cruel that I would just tell you something and say, 'Just kidding!' after giving you a heart attack. I think this assignment is actually a first-rate initiative."

"In what way do you think this is a good idea?" Jun demanded with fire in her eyes. "Sending Rin to inevitable contact with Zelman will jeopardize everything we've worked so hard to accomplish."

Aguri's smile died away and was replaced with a hard and in-control scowl. "I thought we agreed never to speak of that," he growled in a low voice. Jun ignored his warning.

"Unless in emergencies, and this is one." She pointed toward the door Rin had just left. "The only reason she continues to follow orders is because she doesn't remember anything that happened before the fire. If she meets anyone that has the possibility of stimulating her memory then-"

Aguri bared his fangs and stood up so that he towered over the shorter woman. "Silence!" he ordered. Jun let her hand drop to her side, but she wasn't overcome nor finished. His sudden change in demeanor hardly did anything to make her feel susceptible, and she merely adjusted her line of vision so that she was glaring up at her boss.

"If her memory comes back then our plan will turn to dust," she concluded threateningly.

"They've been getting more frequent, haven't they?" Aguri asked quickly with a sharpened gaze and a tone that was once again low and dark. "Her dreams."

Jun blinked with surprise at the sudden change of topic. She didn't even think Aguri knew anything about her sister's more recent dreams. After a few moments of contemplation, she looked down at the floor and, reluctantly, confirmed with a small nod. Aguri didn't need to continue with his train of thought for her to know what he was going to say, but still, he voiced it.

"Those dreams have just as much chance of bringing her memory back as a forgotten friendship," he growled. "The likelihood continues to rise with each night she is haunted by these recounts of her past, and the only way to be sure nothing happens is if we get rid of the one thing of hers that survived through these years. It is risky, I know, but there is no one better to do this. I can't do it myself because the Council's suspicions will be on me as soon as they find out he's dead. I can't send only you or Rin will become curious and she'll go after you anyway. Of all the assassins I have trained, only you and your sister together have a chance."

Jun narrowed her eyes. "You say risky as though we're trying to take a lollipop from the governor's baby. This isn't just risky; this is a gamble with the best card players in the world. This isn't something we can walk into blind; you have to choose your cards carefully lest you be overrun by darker shadows. Have you even thought this through?"

Aguri's lips curved into a small smile at the metaphor and he slowly sat down and leaned back in his chair with one hand on the arm rest and the other propping up his head. "As I recall, that is how we met, isn't it? You and Rin were playing at the Lotus Casino on the mainland and you were dominating, but you made your victories stanchly believable. I knew something was up so I challenged you. That game was won with a roll of snake eyes, the die landed with two ones facing up at your prediction."

"You're avoiding my question," Jun interrupted Aguri's reminiscence with impatience. Aguri searched Jun's face then, trying to figure out what she was getting at. He knew that all she wanted was her sister to remain safe by her side and she would do anything to accomplish that, even if it meant forsaking his partnership with her. He would certainly have to tread carefully around her or his plans could fall to ruin.

"Of course I've thought about this course of action, Jun," he at last replied. "More than necessary, probably. I began to go through the scenarios as soon as I heard of the dreams Rin had been having, and I haven't stopped since. Quite frankly, our options are thin and of the ones we can take, sending you and Rin is possibly the only remote chance we have."

Jun remained silent for a few moments before she finally, slowly nodded with acceptance. Aguri had no reason to lie and he wouldn't put his scheme in unnecessary harm's way so she could trust him, at least for now. That didn't mean she had to like his solution, though.

"Alright then," Aguri continued quietly. "The address of your temporary living space is in the glove box of the car, along with your new identities."

Jun nodded again and waited to be dismissed. She didn't want to say anything else; both of their tip-toeing attitudes around each other could eventually be sent up in flames. She had no doubt he was keeping something from her, just as she was keeping something from him. Aguri's eyes softened as he observed the tension still laced throughout the assassin's shoulders. He could guess what she was feeling and had the sudden urge to reassure her of his plan.

"Jun, this is the only way," he said quietly. When she still didn't respond Aguri sighed and motioned toward the door. Without a sound, Jun turned on her heel and walked toward the door at a pace that wasn't rushed, nor relaxed. Before she was able to slide it open, however, she felt a presence behind her. As soon as she twisted around to look behind her, her lips were met with Aguri's and they shared a heated kiss that stirred feelings inside them that had long been locked away for the safety of Rin's memory. Jun leaned into the strong arms that wrapped themselves around her and felt herself giving in to desire. How long had it been since she and Aguri were able to spend a long, wondrous night together? Too long.

When Aguri finally pulled away, he whispered into Jun's ear breathlessly.

"Get it done with as soon as possible. Then come back with both you and your sister in one piece, alright?"

Jun nodded compliance and Aguri gave her one final, gentle kiss before he returned to his desk as though nothing happened. The cloak and dagger act was getting old, but Jun knew if anything slipped out that would jog Rin's memory, she could very well once again become lost to her. She wasn't willing to let that happen.

* * *

Rin sat up in her seat and raised an eyebrow curiously as soon as she saw Jun exit the house. Once her sister opened the door and pulled herself up into the driver's seat of the pick-up, Rin propped her head up with her elbow on the side of her door.

"What took so long?" she asked nonchalantly. Normally, she had a constant psychic connection with her sister and she could hear the thoughts running through her head, except when the connection was blocked. That could be done by simply turning off a switch to the psychological part of the brain, and both of the twins did it when they were speaking or thinking about something that they didn't want the other to hear.

Jun always seemed to be having private conversations with Aguri, but she never mentioned what they were about. Frankly, Rin was getting a little tired of it, and she already had her suspicions as to why Jun stayed behind anyway. She was mostly frustrated because her sister refused to make any mention of it even though they always spoke to each other about pretty much everything that they felt. Men should definitely be one of the things they confided in; even if it was their boss they were talking about. He was their same age so it wasn't like it was creepy or anything, but Jun still felt intent on hiding it. As she proved with her reply to Rin's question.

"I had some things I needed to clarify with Aguri," she answered cryptically. Rin smiled and nodded slowly before twisting to grab her seatbelt and fasten it.

"Alright, whatever you say," she replied with heavy sarcasm. She figured that if she said something about how Jun should probably fix her lipstick or about the obvious flush in her cheeks she could quite possibly get punched.

Jun's eyes flicked quickly to her sister before she reached over to her side of the car and opened the glove box in the hopes to hide her understanding of the obvious way Rin was referring to possibilities she thought she knew. How much _did_ she know? The whole point to hiding her and Aguri's relationship was so that Rin didn't remember what had happened before the fire. Was that what was causing her dreams? She hoped not, because that would mean the whole thing would fall apart and it would be on her shoulders.

Inside the glove box, as Aguri said, was a bag that contained IDs, credit cards, birth certificates, and everything else that would legally be needed to disguise themselves as their new personas. Jun pulled the bag out and found that under it was a thin file that looked like it contained only a single sheet of paper. She grabbed that as well and leaned back in her seat to skim the paper quickly. It had the story that they would have to fashion themselves after, and with it the perfect answers to almost every question that would come up as they surveyed Zelman's movements in their guise.

"Well this is pretty surprising," Jun mumbled. Rin raised an eyebrow and grabbed the paper from her sister's hands. She need only read the first few lines before grinding her teeth together for the second time that night.

"Oh, he has a wonderful sense of humor," Rin growled and shoved the paper back into the glove box. They were to be sisters that lived their whole lives in the country, which was completely opposite of their real upbringing in the busiest, and often most dangerous part of the city. That wasn't the thing that was ironic about this situation, however.

She and her sister had a history with the countryside of the mainland. As in, they had a mission there that stretched both of their limits of patience. She shuddered at the thought of having to deal with that drooling, hopeless piece of-

"If it's any consolation," Jun interrupted Rin's thoughts and held out a card to her, "he had the good sense of giving you a different last name than Chang. In fact, we're supposed to be from American descent."

Rin scowled at her sister's use of that man's name and grabbed the ID card to verify what she said. Indeed, both the first and last name seemed like something you would only hear in America: Cecelia Anne Hayes. That name was certainly different compared to what she was used to. According to the ID she was born in Alridge, Idaho and was going to turn twenty-four next month. At least the date wasn't too far off, she and her sister were born in late November, which was three months away.

"So what's your alias?" Rin asked as she twisted around in her seat to see if any clothes or accessories had been provided. There were two plastic bags filled with the essential outfits they would need to be wearing, and Rin began sifting through them to see what she could find.

"Linda-Sue," Jun replied with distaste and put everything back in the bag so she could turn around and see what her sister was doing. Rin, however, paused in her search and leaned back so that she could look at Jun with both of her eyebrows arched high on her forehead.

"Linda-Sue?" she asked before bursting out into an uncontrollable fit of laughter. Jun looked anything but amused as she returned to a normal sitting position in her seat and turned the key in the ignition to start the engine. Her exhaustion was just about to catch up to her and she wanted to get on the road fast.

Still laughing, Rin sat forward as well and fastened her seatbelt. Jun did her best to ignore her and began to pull out of the mansion's long driveway. Thankfully, by the time they reached the gate Rin calmed down from her outburst of loud laughter to occasional snickering. But still, enough was enough. Sure, the name was funny to them because it came from a completely different culture, but it was still a name that probably hundreds of others had... Of course, she could just be making up an excuse so that she didn't feel so uncomfortable with that name. It didn't suit her at all, but it certainly fit her persona so she was just going to have to deal with it. And so would Rin.

"Alright, ha-ha time's over," Jun said as she came to a stop in front of the gate to wait for it to slide open. "Take one of the phones from the bag and enter the address of the apartment in the Maps app so that we can find it without any hassle."

"Yes, Linda-Sue, dear, I'll get right on that," Rin joked with an ever-widening smile. Jun simply rolled her eyes as Rin reached into the clear, plastic bag and pulled out one of the black iPhones; she entered the address as the gate fully opened and Jun pulled through and out into the city. The apartment was located rather far away from Aguri's mansion. In fact, it was in close proximity with the mansion Zelman used for both his home and The Coven. It was a little disconcerting that the twins had to be so close to so many vampires who would, quite frankly, love to make a meal out of two young women such as themselves, but they were confident that they could handle themselves. At least, Rin was. Her arrogance towered high above Jun's.

The drive was mostly silent, thank goodness. Jun didn't need any more teasing. What she needed was a nice, long sleep; it was almost half past three in the morning, after all. No matter how much one trained to be able to stay up without sleep, it was still extraordinarily possible to become very, VERY tired. This would be one of those times.

When they neared the apartment, Rin slowed and looked along the side of the street in hopes to find a spot to park. Since this was one of the busiest parts of the city, there generally weren't very many places to park a car, especially when everyone was sleeping. Luck seemed to be with them, however, and Jun was able to snag a spot big enough for the truck to fit, but only barely. She had a feeling that the owners of the two cars in front and back of the truck would become very annoyed with the lack of space they would have to pull out of their spots, but she didn't really care. She wasn't going to hunt for a bigger spot that would probably end up being a mile away from the apartment.

After engaging the emergency break and shutting off power to the engine, both Rin and Jun looked at the apartment with curiosity. It was small, as was expected, and very well-kempt. At least, on the outside. Hopefully it would be the same on the inside.

The apartment was white with soft blue accents that looked homey and rather welcoming, which was always good. It was probably the closest to home two "country girls" could find in a foreign city. There were two levels from what it looked like, and they would only be getting the top one. The bottom one was an entirely different apartment that hopefully didn't serve as home to anyone irritating or it would make the twins' mission a lot harder to complete.

"Well," Jun finally said to break the silence, "staring isn't going to get us anywhere."

Rin nodded in agreement and they simultaneously opened their doors to exit the car. Jun grabbed the file and plastic bag on her way, which left Rin to take the two bags of clothes in the back. By the time she got them and closed the car door, Jun was halfway up the flight of stairs that led up to the front door. Rin followed, but just before she made it to the first step a shiver ran down her spine and she whirled her head to the left to get a glimpse at what she felt, but there was nothing there. She thought that there was a pair of eyes on her, and the presence seemed all too familiar, like she had felt the gaze of those eyes before. Yet, she could not place who the presence belonged to, and she even doubted that there was anyone there at all. She was probably just imagining things; that night had been long and tiresome. Brushing off the feeling, Rin continued on her way, unaware of the pair of crimson eyes that followed her.

Inside, the apartment opened up to a living/dining room (there wasn't enough space for both so it was really one open area) and a small kitchen in the very back left. To the right were two doors, probably a bedroom and a bathroom. Rin closed the front door behind her and hefted the two bags onto the leather couch against the left wall. She quickly searched through them and grabbed two pairs of pj's, one green and one purple. She threw the purple one at her sister who was looking through the cabinets of the kitchen and then began changing.

Being that they were twins, they had never felt uncomfortable changing in front of one another. It was just something that was normal for them. They were raised doing it, after all. She was out of her dress and into the long-sleeved flannel and pants of the same material in record time. It was no secret that she was ready for some sleep, and she didn't bother looking around to get used to the apartment; she just wanted a nice, long catnap. Apparently, Jun felt the same way, because as soon as Rin had entered the bedroom and sunk down into the twin-sized bed closest to the window, Jun was laying down in the bed next to hers.

They both remained silent, but Rin could not get to sleep. For some reason, that presence she had sensed earlier struck her hard. She couldn't get it out of her head. Frustrated, she turned her head and peered out of the window to the moon that was already sinking low into the sky. Why did they arrive so darned late? Tomorrow would not be fun, even if they didn't have to be anywhere. Their mental alarm clocks would wake them up by seven-thirty or eight, which meant only three or four hours of sleep.

Sighing, Rin rolled onto her right side so that her neck was no longer at an awkward angle as she looked outside. After a while she frowned and realized that she kept seeing small figures buzzing around the window in the moonlight, and it wasn't from moths.

"Jun," she said into the darkness to get her sister's attention. Jun sighed, very audibly, and opened her eyes.

"Yes, Rin?" she asked with impatience.

"I think there's a hornet's nest outside the window."

Again, Jun sighed. That was wonderful.

"We'll deal with it tomorrow," she grumbled tiredly, and turned on her side so that she was facing away from Rin who couldn't help but smile at Jun's annoyance. Why was it always so fun to bother her? The question remained unanswered as Rin's exhaustion finally caught up with her and she slipped into her subconscious. That night, the nightmare was worse by tenfold.

* * *

_Gah, I'm sorry for posting so late! I have had zero time to do anything because of school, and homework, and marching bad, and SHOOT ME. PLEASE... Okay, no, don't do that. I wouldn't be able to post the third chapter if I died... Speaking of which, next chapter is going to be EPIC and a certain someone is going to be introduced and I am SO excited because he's *mumbles name inaudibly* So, yep. It's going to be awesome. Lol, PLEASE REVIEW. It keeps my writing spirit going! Oh, and I'm going to do my best to post a chapter a week, but I have no promises... My teachers like to collectively assign enough homework to kill me several times over... Anywho, peace, peoples!  
_

_-KC_


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

There was nothing to do. The Silver Blade had become a boring subject as of late, even if his and the Lord Sage's personalities were so intriguing. Previously, Zelman would have thought that the return of the Kin Killer would spur more rebellions or riots within the vampire community, but that didn't seem to be the case any longer. After Cassa's little plan failed, there seemed to be nothing but peace and quiet. He hated it.

In the last meeting with the leaders of the four affiliate houses, there seemed only to be a few selfish disputes that were honestly too childish for him to get his teeth sunk in. He had contemplated getting up and walking out, it was so tiresome. In fact, he was about to do just that when Aguri, the newest head of the Order Coffin Company after Zhang Lei Kao's death, decided to speak up…

"_So I hear that a few of the Asura bloodline have proclaimed themselves, Zelman," Aguri had said with a small, but noticeably crooked smile. The room fell silent at this comment, for Aguri's rivalry with Zelman was no secret, and it could be dangerous to simply let them speak freely. If they were going to talk about such a fragile subject, the others had to make sure nothing came of it. Zelman leaned back in his chair and crossed his right leg over his left. He decided to humor the young vampire, at least to see if this would lead to anything interesting._

"_Have they?" he asked with the same smile creeping onto his face. "Obviously my sources are outdated if I haven't heard of this. Do tell."_

_Of course, he HAD heard, but he wanted to see where Aguri was going with this. Aguri chuckled, reading Zelman's obvious lie, but almost happily continued._

"_Oh, yes, they certainly have. There were four, I do believe, that claimed to have the same blood as you. Nobody challenged them, either because they thought they were lying or were afraid of them. Apparently, they were all leaders of small bands of rebellious vampires…"_

_Zelman narrowed his eyes at the word Aguri used. "What do you mean 'were'?"_

"_Surely you must have heard. Only last night they were found dead in their homes. Oh, but that's not the interesting part…" Aguri's smile widened and he leaned his head in his hand before he continued. "The thing that really has me hooked is that they were found as ashes with scorch marks around where they lay, yet there was no evidence of fire in any other place. It was as if they weren't given the time to fight back… or maybe they just weren't who they said they were and couldn't do anything to save themselves from the heat of the real Asura bloodline's flames."_

_Zelman tilted his head to the side and kept the smile even on his face, although this disturbed him. He didn't kill them, he had no reason to. Obviously, someone was trying to set him up._

"_Are you suggesting that it was I who decided to murder these vampires?" he inquired. Though he was the leader of the unsanctioned Coven, full of scoundrels and villainous vampires, he still had an appearance to keep up. He couldn't go around willy-nilly killing vampires unless he disposed of the bodies elsewhere, which was often the case. He would never leave so much obvious evidence behind._

"_Did you?" Aguri asked darkly. There was something in his eyes, something unreadable even to Zelman who had eight-hundred years of practice of reading emotions._

"_As a matter of fact, no," Zelman replied easily. "I wish it was, though. Unless it is true, there is no one who can be allowed to claim to be my kin. They, obviously, were not so they got what was coming toward them. I would have been glad to deal the punishment, but I was beat to it." Zelman stood and put his hands in his pockets. "Sorry to disappoint," he finished and walked out of the meeting. Unfortunately, even Aguri couldn't satisfy his hunger for something out of the ordinary._

And that was that. He still wasn't too sure what Aguri was trying to do or say, but it unsettled him. For too long in this rivalry with the young vampire he had been on the defense. He needed to get an upper hand, and he already had some ideas on what he could look into. For one: how is it that a vampire took over leadership of the Order Coffin Company who has a distinct relationship with the Suppression team who does nothing but slaughter vampires without a solid bloodline who try to gain access to the Special Zone? It was uncanny and next to impossible.

However, pestering Aguri could really only go so far. There wasn't much to him aside from the mystery of how he got his position, even though he gave a flamboyant display of his power, charisma, and knowledge. Every one of the leaders of the affiliate houses had skills like those. How else would they have attained their high position?

No, there wasn't much interest that could be attained from him. Recently, there was only one subject that seemed to have the potential to be even the slightest bit entertaining. Even then, he wasn't sure if it was anything worth looking in to. Two assassins, without faces, referred to by many as "Snake Eyes."

In every case, they seemed flawless, and they had many targets in the past. All of them, not too peculiarly, were vampires with the tendency to take a little too much blood than was necessary. There never seemed to be any witnesses, so there was no evidence as to who the assassins could be. However, video evidence suggested that the two assassins were women with black hair. Though it wasn't much, since their faces always seemed to be turned away from the cameras, it was something. Zelman quite honestly wanted to figure out who these assassins were, mainly because he was curious as to why they were killing so many rascal vampires, but avoided killing any vampire such as himself who was high in both power and malicious intent.

A quiet knock on the door interrupted Zelman's thoughts and he sighed quietly. From the smell he could tell it was Sayuka, and that meant he would have to light the candles so that she could see. Normally light wasn't much of a problem, but he liked being in the dark more than not, especially when he was thinking. Still, he snapped his fingers and set the many candles in the room aflame with a glowing, orange light.

"Come in, Sayuka," he said and his frown was replaced with a small smile. There was a clicking noise as Sayuka turned the handle of the door and pushed it open to enter Zelman's richly decorated room.

"Zelman," she greeted once she saw him sitting on the couch facing toward the door before she took out the clipboard that had been held in place under her arm. "You said you wanted to know as soon as the assassins struck again, right?"

Zelman's smile widened slightly; how ironic Sayuka should bring him news of the thing he was just pondering. He motioned with his hand for her to go on and she pushed her glasses farther up on her nose as she continued.

"About forty minutes ago they attacked and killed a vampire in a club. Once again, there isn't much evidence as to who they are. The only ones to have seen their faces clearly are either intoxicated or dead."

"Who was their target?" Zelman asked.

"I believe it was Rafael von Connor," Sayuka answered.

Zelman folded his hands in front of him and contemplated this. Rafael wasn't too big of a fish, but the assassins hit awfully close to home. Rafael was one of the very few vampires who survived the Kowloon take-over in the Coven, and he had also been one of Zelman's higher-ranking officers. Of course, he could easily be replaced, but that was the third vampire in the Coven to be recently killed by these Snake Eyes characters. It was likely that it was just a coincidence, but it didn't sit right, especially with the murder of the four vampires who had claimed to be a part of his bloodline. Just what sort of plot was forming around him?

"Is there anything else significant you can tell me?" he asked after a few moments. Sayuka shook her head.

"In that small of a time window, that was all I could find out," she explained.

"I see," Zelman murmured, a rare moment of seriousness crossing his aristocratic features. I was replaced a moment later, however, with his usual smirk. "Thank you Sayuka, you've done well," he said and stood from his seat, "Now, go and get some rest."

Sayuka's eyes followed him as he began walking toward the front door of the mansion.

"Where are you going?" she asked, curious. It was rare that he just left so late in the night, or rather, early in the morning. He might occasionally go out in search for blood, but there would be no one to find at this hour.

"I'm just going to walk around for a bit," he responded with a hint of boredom in his voice. He knew she wasn't satisfied with his answer, but Sayuka always asked so many questions that even just one seemed to tire him now. Her usefulness had not yet been used up, however, so he continued to let her believe he still wished she was around.

Outside, the air was crisp and clear, and the moon was reaching fullness in the sky above. Zelman paused for a moment to take in a deep breath of the fresh air; he hadn't been outside since that damnable meeting. It was nice to get out for a walk, even if he was just going to be absorbed in his thoughts the whole way. He continued walking with a sigh, with no particular route in mind. He just needed to walk to get his mind running smoothly.

There were thirty-two known assassinations in the special zone that were carried out by the two black-haired women referred to as Snake eyes. Zelman knew every single fact there was to know about each of the killed vampires, but there was never anything linking them aside from their bad drinking habits. Not until now. Three vampires, all having a position in the Coven, killed over the expanse of this month alone. That was no coincidence, but there was something missing in what he knew.

The apparent motive for these killings was the fact that they were murderous vampires that were uncontrolled by the Suppression Team, but that wasn't it, there was something else… The crime rate for vampires had been steadily increasing ever since Aguri's inauguration to the head of the Order Coffin Company, which could mean something. Zelman had looked into this before, however, and decided that the vampires were just at a state of unrest since the recent Kowloon outbreak. The Suppression team and the Company were still doing their jobs quite efficiently.

There was the matter of the four vampires who had stepped forth to claim that they had the blood of Asura, but they were killed by fire. Fire was definitely not the usual weapon of choice for the Snake Eyes. No, they preferred attacking with a vampire's weakness- silver. Of course, it didn't really matter which method was used because either way the vampires subject to the weapon would be left as ashes. It could be possible that the Snake Eyes had truly killed the four vampires and burned the area around their bodies, but that would suggest that they were working for Aguri. As much as Zelman knew not to underestimate the vampire, hiring assassins didn't seem like something he would do.

Zelman growled quite audibly; no matter which direction he turned it always seemed to be a dead end. There were critical pieces of information that were missing from his overview of the events as of late, and it was pissing him off. He hated not knowing what was happening. Of course, it could all amount to nothing, but the connections seemed to prevalent to be ignored.

As Zelman walked past a street in one of the most populated parts of the city, still growling to himself, he caught a whiff of something that made him freeze in his tracks. That scent… it couldn't be. He turned toward where it came from and began to walk briskly through the streets toward its origin. His mind was wiped clean of everything and there was only one thought running through his consciousness: Aria.

The name sounded foreign, impalpable. He hadn't thought nor heard of her in years… It was then that he slowed to a painful stop. He hadn't heard her name nor smelled her scent because she was dead. It was possible that his mind was simply playing tracks on him. But no, there it was again, stronger this time. He began walking again, his pace quickening until he was sprinting through the labyrinth of apartment buildings, trying to pinpoint where it was.

He rounded a corner and suddenly slid to a halt. His eyes widened and his mouth hung open to reveal his fangs as he stared at the figure of the woman who was walking across the sidewalk with two bags in her hands. Every little movement she made, every second he stared at her, brought a new memory flooding back. There she was, the spitting image.

Then realization came. The terms of their separation were not the most desirable. If she saw him, there was no telling what would happen. The woman stopped then, and whirled her head around to look his way, but he was behind the corner he had come around and he was holding his breath. It had taken her such a long time to realize that someone was even watching her. It couldn't be her.

When he peeked his head around the building to catch one last glance at her, however, he had no doubt that it was her.

"Aria," he whispered, the feeling of the name on his tongue so old… but so familiar. Could it really be her?

"Zelman," a deep voice said from behind him, pulling him out of his reminiscence. He put on his usual facade and turned around to make eye contact with the Black Blood dressed in a long, red coat.

"Well if it isn't the Silver Blade," Zelman greeted. "What brings you out on this fine night?"

"I'm patrolling," he replied. Zelman couldn't hide the smile that crept to his lips.

"You, patrolling?" he snickered. "What are you, the Compromiser's attack dog?"

Jiro narrowed his eyes. "You know very well Mimiko doesn't work like that," he growled. "No, I was making sure no vampires were out making a nuisance, there have been too many occurrences as of late. Some of the humans are apparently getting restless. I'm here of my own accord to see if I can find out who's been behind all of the assassinations recently."

"So you're interested in the Snake Eyes as well?" Zelman asked. "That doesn't seem like your type of prey, Jiro."

"They are if they threaten the safety of the innocent public," Jiro replied, "they're reckless and they kill anyone who gets in their way."

"By innocent public you truly mean Mimiko, don't you?" Zelman asked, a small poke to get the ball rolling. Jiro, however, did not take the bait.

"I just so happened to come across you drooling like a starved mutt as you stared at that Red Blood woman," Jiro said instead. "Care to explain?"

Zelman's amusement disappeared and he narrowed his eyes at the younger vampire. "My business is my own, and I wasn't staring at her."

"Whatever you say," Jiro huffed. He then turned around and began walking away.

"Oh, is that all?" Zelman called after him. "We haven't spoken in such a long time!"

"I have business to take care of," Jiro hissed over his shoulder, then jumped into the air. Zelman watched for a few moments as he ran across the roves of the buildings before he turned and looked at the apartment the woman had disappeared into. Jiro had called her a Red Blood… His sense of smell was just as good as Zelman's so obviously he couldn't have been wrong. He had to admit, her scent did smell much different from how it used to, but it didn't seem to him that she was human.

Whatever the case, he would have to return soon. His curiosity had officially gotten the better of him. He was going to find out who that woman was…

_Aria, _he thought, _have you returned?_

* * *

_Short chapter is short. At least I updated, right? :D Sorry for the irregular posts. :( But I hope you enjoyed! This was my favorite chapter to write so far, I love love LOVE writing in Zelman's perspective. Tell me what you think!  
_

_-KC_


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